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People receive a dose of the Modern Coronavirus Disease Vaccine (COVID-19), a day before the broader Green Pass restrictions go into effect, where Italians will need immunity tests to access a range of leisure services and activities. Music Auditorium in Rome, Italy, August 5, 2021. REUTERS / Guglielmo Mangiapane
ROME, September 2 (Reuters) – Italy may end up making COVID-19 inoculations mandatory for everyone of eligible age and plans to start administering booster vaccines to vulnerable people later this month, the prime minister said on Thursday Mario Draghi.
The government has already forced medical workers to get vaccinated if they want to be paid, but Draghi said everyone can be forced to receive a shot when EU health authorities give full approval of the vaccines.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has conditionally approved four vaccines. This could be upgraded to the so-called standard marketing authorization after further checks, at which point, according to Draghi, they could be mandatory for everyone.
This measure would likely provoke fierce opposition in a country that has experienced increasing skepticism about all types of vaccines over the past decade and where health experts who have promoted inoculations have faced verbal abuse and threats from of No Vax opponents.
Draghi denounced these attacks and said at a press conference that “this violence is particularly hateful and cowardly when it is directed against those who are at the forefront of fighting the pandemic.”
The prime minister told reporters he was confident that 80% of all Italians aged 12 and over would be fully vaccinated by the end of the month, up from the current 70.5%.
He added that his government planned to further expand the use of so-called Green Pass health documents, which are currently needed for long-distance travel, to access many leisure activities and are also mandatory for school workers. Read more
Officials said last week they were considering extending the scheme to anyone working in a public office or supermarket.
The system has provoked protests from some Italians who say it is trampling on freedoms.
Some 129,352 people have died from coronavirus in Italy since the pandemic last year, the second highest number of deaths in Europe after Britain. New cases remained relatively stable in August, but doctors fear the more contagious Delta variant could cause a further rise in infections in the coming weeks. Read more
Reports by Crispian Balmer and Angelo Amante Edition by Frances Kerry
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